Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-12-30
THE SAMOANS' FAMOUS DRINK.
How the Beverage Is Manufacture

How the Beverage Is Manufactured.
Story Told by Traveller.
The mode of living of SamoanS is very
simple, and days pass sometimes without
a Samoan partaking of any hot fOCd.
Cocoanuts. bananas, pineapples. yam and
more particularly the bread fruit, once in
a While some fish and a piece of hog.
especially when it happens To be one Of
your white neighbours hogs, conclude the
simple bill of fare. One of the greatest
beverages among the SamOanS is ava.
The ava (macropiper methysticum), which
grows in clusters from SIX to ten feet in
height, is a species OF pepper. From its
dried root is made an intoxicating hever
age which, when taken in small doses. is
q delightful SOpOrilic. To drink ava is
all very well if you do not see how it is
manufactured. But if you witness the
process. as did on one OCCASION when |
first sampled this native drink. | feel
assured that your taste for ava will be
somewhat changed.
While taking a stroll over Samoa one
fine afternoon | came across q large num-
Der of Apians. men and women who were
sitting on the ground around one of the
native huts. apparently engaged in some
very interesting work. Having lost my
way and being anxious to see all there
was to be seen. | approached the crowd,
greeted my friends with a ''kallotfah,
and, with all the Samoan at my COM
mand explained my eTrand. The natives
treated me very kindly and at once in
vited me 70 take a seat in their family
circle, offering me the best place between
two charming young girls. who wore
nothing in the shape of dress but the
usual ''lahpahlahpah. | noticed that all
the women and young girls were engaged
in chewing ut a root. while on their laps
rested small cocoanut bowls, which |
took 10 be spittoons, az they allowed the
juice of the roots to drop into the bowls.
In the center of the circle stood a larger
bowl, and whenever any OF the women
had cheWed enough on the root she would
empty the contents Of her bowl into the
larger one. ! watched these proceedings
with great establishment. and could not
imagine to what end these damsels exer-
cised their jaws on those gray roots.
After the bowl in the center had been
about half filed with this brownish fluid
some lines and oranges were produced
and mixed with the rest, and the milk of
a number Of cocoanuts added 10 the whole
COMPLETED the Samoans' famous drink
called Java To see its manufacture
Was bad enough but now came the hard
est part ] was supposed to drink this
stuff | was at a loss what to do. /
knew that if | refused to partake ! would
be insulting my host | tried TO make
believe that / was not thirsty but this did
not seem 10 work at all. and u my great
horror ! was offered the first drink after
the mixture had been pronounced by the
Oldest chief present to be all right. Ny
fair neiGhbor to the right offered me quite
a large bowl filed TO the brim with ava,
and had to partake. | took a sip and
tried to return the balance because | dId
not like its peppery taste, but it was no
90. | had to finish. 1t was all that my
life was worth. i managed 10 get
through as best / could, and washed the
whole down with some cocoanUt milk. |
afterward learned that had | refused to
drink with my Samoan friends ] certainly
would have been compelled 10 quit their
presence in disgrace -Gus. {. Roeder in
New York World.